The Games We Play
by da-angel729
Summary: Neither should've survived. She'd expected them to die. Post "The Hero in the Hold".


**Author's Notes: **This was originally written for the **femgenficathon **at LiveJournal with the following prompt: _No more tears; I shall think about revenge. -- Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), 16th-century queen consort of France and queen of Scotland in her own right._ This is my first time writing in this fandom, so constructive criticism is welcome.

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**The Games We Play**

The bruises haven't faded.

Heather Taffet knows the bruises on her face are not completely gone because her fellow inmates at the Mountain Valley Womens' Prison comment on it.

Every damn day. With laughter and sometimes scorn, because what serial killer lets a damn forensic anthropologist get the best of her?

The briefcase had taken her by surprise, though she doesn't like to admit it. Her observations of Dr. Temperance Brennan had led her to believe she didn't show strong emotions. Ever. She had been wrong. She's never wrong. And she doesn't do surprises. She plans, then waits for the perfect moment. The rush.

The rush of catching someone unawares, the way the body jerks when she sticks the cattle prod in. Knowing the families of the victims will be frantic with worry. She feels alive in those moments, and invincible.

Sitting on her bunk, hands clasped, elbows braced on her knees, she still can't believe both Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan survived their kidnappings. Neither should've survived. She'd expected them to die.

Her expectations hadn't been met, and she needs to fix it.

Now.

The marks are still there. And so is the utter sense of failure.

She knows she's failed. Two no, three, she amends, remembering the entomologist survived. She was losing the game.

She loves games.

Winning games, that is. She hasn't completely lost, though she's a few turns behind. And Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan think they've won. But they haven't. And she knows it.

She can't wait for the next roll of the dice.

Staring now at the blank white wall of her cell, she marvels at the certainty that they're always right an arrogance ingrained in both of them that blinds them to the fact it would've been impossible for her to lift two hundred pounds of Seeley Booth dead weight.

Alone.

She thinks the F.B.I. Agent figured it out, and knows the case file is still open somewhere in the Hoover Building. Probably on his desk. And she also knows he's struggling with telling the Forensic Anthropologist his suspicions, though with the doctor's knowledge of the human body she should've already known.

Maybe the doctor does know, and she's just denying it. Heather finds this idea fascinating, and grasps onto it like a lifeline.

And she'd discovered Temperance Brennan wasn't always rational during Booth's kidnapping: love is her Achilles' heel, and made her rational brain short-circuit. She's probably thinking of nothing but revenge.

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She fully understands this during an official visit, where Seeley Booth watches her every movement, carefully cataloguing it for further use, but Temperance Brennan simply stares at her, satisfaction and anger upon her face.

She vows to wipe away the satisfaction, and leave the anger.

The investigator another F.B.I. Agent, along with a US Attorney begin the 'visit', though in reality she knows it's an interrogation. But she won't break. She has someone else counting on her, and they haven't finished their plan. The game's not over.

_Your full name?_

Heather Taffet

_Date of Birth?_

The rote questions continue, for a long time. She answers the questions mindlessly, dutifully. The interrogator is new, she thinks, because he's not even trying hard to push her. She can practically feel the annoyance of Seeley Booth as he listens to the conversation. They're not getting anything out of her.

_Why did you kidnap Dr. Temperance Brennan?_

Because she discovered I was wrong about the Sanders boys. I'm never wrong. She was wrong.

She pauses for a moment, surprised, that a truthful answer has slipped out. She's not normally so careless, and yet this answer is, she realises as the interrogator continues, the truth.

The questions become harder, more focused. She shortens her answers, fills them in with sarcasm and half truths. She can see Temperance Brennan growing angrier at the answers, and Seeley Booth lays his hand on her arm, keeping her calm.

It works, she sees, and smiles to herself. She'll make them both lose their calm before the end.

Then, the one that makes her realise she was wrong about Temperance Brennan and her emotions.

_Why did you kidnap Special Agent Seeley Booth?_

To make her pay for escaping, she answers, and Dr. Temperance Brennan takes two steps in her direction, fists clenched and eyes flashing, before Special Agent Seeley Booth get a grip on her to keep her from moving.

She smiles at them, mockingly, she knows, and they both glare. But as the investigator clears them both out of the room where an argument breaks out her smile changes to one of satisfaction, and she mentally reviews her scoreboard.

Another point for her. Them, she amends, remembering her accomplice, still safe.

For now, she realises as the interrogator continues asking her questions--which she is no longer answering, she decides. She knows it's only a matter of time before her accomplice is found. She needs to work quickly.

He stays for another twenty minutes gaining nothing more and then sighs, packs his papers, and leaves. She watches him speak to the doctor and the agent for a few moments. The doctor is radiating anger, arms crossed as she appears to berate the investigator, and she can see the agent's jaw clenching he's obviously just as angry as she is but he's trying to reason with her. The doctor takes a deep breath, sighs, and nods an apology at the investigator most likely an empty gesture, Heather thinks, but both agents look relieved.

And she smiles. She's won this round.

She they haven't quite succeeded. She won't accept this. She they will win. The game's not over, only halted. And though the ball's now in her court, she knows the doctor and the agent are not merely waiting for her next move. They're already preparing for the next round, without her.

She won't let them win. She never loses. She's stumbled, she admits, but she doesn't lose. And she'll win this time.

Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan will die.

Eventually.


End file.
